Osborne should learn from India and slash top income tax rate to boost investment in UK, Boris tells Mumbai businessmen

A cut to the top 45 per cent rate of income tax should be considered in order to encourage more foreign investment in the capital, London mayor Boris Johnson suggested today.

On his final day of a tour in India, Johnson praised the country for having a more attractive regime for entrepreneurs. He said Chancellor George Osborne should 'brood' on whether the top rate of tax should be cut to something like the 30 per cent enjoyed by the Mumbai businessmen he was addressing.

They asked the mayor whether London could be made more attractive to foreign investors through less regulation, to which Mr Johnson replied that the tax regime 'needed to be looked at'.

Tax tips: London Mayor Boris Johnson addresses a gathering of Indian businessmen

Speaking at the Bombay Stock Exchange
on the final day of his trip, Mr Johnson said: 'You've got tax rates
here of only 30 per cent - a point George Osborne might like to brood
on.

'It's 10 per cent for freelance income, and of course you have a market of about 600million people under 25.'

In interviews with reporters
afterwards, he added: 'One businessman said to me this morning that he
loved London, he loved the quality of life in London.

'But another asked about making London
more attractive in terms of tax and regulation and certainly the tax
regime. As I have said many times before, that needs to be looked at.'

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It comes ahead of next week's autumn statement on the economy by the Chancellor.

And just earlier this week Labour
leader Ed Miliband criticised the drop from 50p to 45p as the top rate -
he said Britain's highest earners will benefit to the tune of more than
£100,000-a-year from the 5p cut which will come into effect from April
2013.

Labour critics had originally balked
at the fact it would save some 8,000 of the richest people in the
country £40,000 a year, but they have calculated the amount is even
higher than that.

Those earning more than £1million stand to benefit by an average of £107,500 as a result of the cut, Labour said.

Mr Miliband said the Government is standing up for the 'wrong people'.

'David Cameron and George Osborne
believe the only way to persuade millionaires to work harder is to give
them more money,' he said.

Thumbs up, down time: The Mayor met England cricketers who are currently on tour in the country, drawing the four Test series 1-1 after the first two games